


Not So Star-Crossed

by orphan_account



Category: Tinker Bell (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-20
Updated: 2014-08-20
Packaged: 2018-02-14 00:14:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2170674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a year, Zarina and James meet again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not So Star-Crossed

**Author's Note:**

> I was sad that there wasn't a whole lot of fic/art for this pairing, so I decided to contribute some.

It had been a year since Zarina had last seen James. One year since a broken promise, and a broken heart. Though she had tried to repress the growing affections for the pirate, she could not deny that she had fallen wing over heel for him. But he was a scoundrel- a charming, handsome scoundrel. And her feelings for him had never quite gone away. It was stupid, falling for someone as treacherous and selfish as a pirate. She wished more than anything that she could make the feelings disappear and just stop pining over him. Their love was impossible anyway.

Little did she know, however, that James had suffered the same damnable infatuation that she had. He adored her, simple as that. She was a tiny treasure of wit and ambition. And he had let his own greed ruin their friendship entirely. He wanted to be a well-traveled captain, respected by his crew and feared by his enemies. He wanted fame and fortune, and to sail across all the seas. Love had never crossed his mind- until she had flown into his life. He made an effort to learn the little chime that was the fairy language, and in time, he could understand her. He had long, profound conversations with her, and marveled at her intelligence and her charisma. He certainly appreciated her beauty, despite her size. Was it love? It seemed so- for only something so strong and so true could drive a pirate to ruin. He feared he was doomed to live with the knowledge that he thrown away any chance he had to keep her at his side. What a fool he had been.

…

The little alchemist had been flitting quickly through the forest, searching for more ingredients. There was a new recipe she was testing out, one that had already had intriguing results on a few voluntary test subjects. She was excited to see what the recipe could do when given a bit of extra oomph.

Passing by a small spring, she heard a familiar voice muttering something distantly. Alarmed, surprised, and curious all at once, Zarina paused and fluttered over to land on a tree branch. Peering up from behind a leaf, she found James- the last person she’d expected to see in the forest. A blush crept over her cheeks as she realized he was undressed and moving to wade into the cool water of the spring. He leaned down to dip his entire body into the spring for a moment, before leaning back up and smoothing his wet hair back against his head. Zarina had half a mind to leave him be, but it’d been so long since she’d seen him, and she really couldn’t bring herself to look away.

Unfortunately for her, a clumsy dragonfly couldn’t slow down in time to keep from flying right into her, knocking the fairy down into the water with a high-pitched squeak. James was mildly startled as something splashed into the water around him, more or less concerned for whatever had fallen in- he wasn’t completely heartless, after all. He made his way over to find Zarina struggling to remain afloat with her heavy clothes and wet wings. “Zarina?” the pirate spoke with surprise and confusion, dipping his hand into the water to scoop the fairy out, “Are you alri- I mean, what are you doing here?” He changed the softness of his tone to one of firmness, eyes narrowed and brow furrowed, not wanting to let his fondness for Zarina get the better of him, “Have you been spying on me? What game are you playing at?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, James!” she bit back sharply, flipping her wild tresses back out of her face and pushing herself up onto her feet, “I was just passing through when I got knocked out of the sky!” Well, that was mostly true anyhow. James cocked an eyebrow in amusement, “I’ve half a mind to lock you up and hold you for ransom to get that blue fairy dust back- but I’ve got better things to do, and i'm feeling rather nice today. So, off with you, then! Shoo!” He just didn't want to have to deal with her, not after all they'd been through.

Zarina folded her arms and huffed at him in frustration, “I can’t fly with wet wings, you dolt!” The pirate’s lips set into a hard line, “Hm, I suppose that’s true. You best get walking, then.” He headed toward the edge of the spring and deposited her none too gently onto the grassy ground. She quickly righted herself again and turned to him, calling out before he could move any further away from her, “James, wait!”

The pirate turned back around, “What do you want?” It was harsh, but he had to cut her off from him- he couldn’t present either of them with any false hopes. The friendship was over, and that was that. “I want..” she began shakily, the pain of betrayal thick in her voice, “I want to know why.” “Why what?” But he knew exactly what she meant. “Why did you hurt me like that?” her voice had gone smaller, sadder, “You lied to me, betrayed me, hurt me, left me for dead. I thought we were friends..”

James could feel his heart sink in his chest at the way she addressed him, the way she spoke as though she really was hurt by his actions. He had never wanted to hurt her, not really. “I’m a pirate,” he kept up a heart-hardened demeanor, “Lying is what we do. I was only using you to get at that blue fairy dust. Our whole friendship was meaningless.” And he immediately regretted the words the moment they left his lips, because he could see the tears well in her pretty eyes. “Meaningless?” she repeated, a quiver of a sob rising in her voice, “It really meant nothing to you?”

He didn’t know what to say, taken aback by the tiny trickle of tears rolling down over her cheeks. It pained him to see her like this, as she covered her face with her hands and began to weep quietly, more affected by his words than he had expected. “Zarina- Zarina, please,” he spoke, more softly now than before, reaching out a hand slowly, “Please don’t cry.” “No, get away from me! You- you’re a monster!” And for some reason, that cut him deeper than the blade of any sword ever could.

“Zarina, you don’t understand,” James tried to explain, making to grab for her despite her trying to wiggle away from his hands, “Please, just- just let me explain.” “Haven’t you done enough damage? What more is there for you to say?” “Zarina,” he managed to pull her into his palms, holding her up so she was at eye level with him, “I want to believe our friendship was meaningless- truly, I do. I have wanted to forget you.. but I can’t.”

At the admission, she looked up at him, sniffling softly. “I enjoyed every second of our time together,” he continued with a sad smile, “You were more beautiful and interesting and amazing than any woman I’d ever met. It was my own lust for the life of a true pirate that made me commit the atrocities that brought our friendship to its end. If I could go back and change things, make it so that I kept you with me, I.. I would like to think I would. Because I do care for you, Zarina. I regret my actions, and I am immensely glad you’re safe and sound. I.. I am.. s.. s.. sorry..” It was hard to get the words to come out, but in time, they did. And the look on Zarina’s face was one of hope, one of.. love? Maybe James was the hopeful one now.

“Oh, you foolish scallywag,” the fairy replied with a smile of her own, leaning forward and standing on the tips of her toes to press a kiss to his forehead, “I won’t ask you to renounce your wicked ways, but I would ask that you let bygones be bygones, and give our friendship one last chance.”

“Of course,” James answered without hesitation, “We can start over, try again. I have.. missed you, Zarina.”

Her small smile widened, her wet wings fluttering with delight, “Then get dressed and I’ll show you the latest alchemical recipe I’ve been working on!”

…

“So what’s it supposed to do?” the pirate inquired curiously, watching as his tiny friend went about mixing the final ingredients before pouring them into a bottle. “You’ll see!” she told him with a bit of excitement in her voice.

When everything was all mixed and ready to go, she picked up the bottle and held it up to him. “Do you trust me?” she asked softly. He considered the question for a moment. Then he nodded, and took the bottle. He downed it in a single swig, and handed it back to her. “Just a heads-up, the effects should only last about an hour or so,” she said as she moved all her equipment aside.

It took mere seconds for the mixture to take effect, and in under a minute, James had shrunk down to Zarina’s size. He stared down at himself in wonder, “Incredible!”

A modest blush tinged Zarina’s soft features, “It took me awhile to figure it out, but I figured the mixture might have some good future use.” The pirate nodded in agreement, before moving forward to take the fairy by the hands and pull her toward him. Overcome with a bout of joy, they began to dance beneath the moonlight, the wind carrying their laughter.

“Zarina, this is fantastic! You really are amazing, you know that?” James gushed, twirling Zarina before letting her fall into his arms. She blushed an even deeper shade of pink. All time seemed to stop as they simply stared into each other’s eyes.

“James, I..” she could hardly get the words out, and after a few seconds of silence, chose to let her actions speak instead- leaning in to peck a light kiss at his lips. His lips were softer than she’d expected, and he looked at her with such shock, she feared she’d made the wrong choice. “I- I’m so sorry- I shouldn’t have done that, I-“

Zarina was cut off as James pulled her in close to kiss her tenderly, his arms wrapped around her slender waist. She melted into the kiss, hands coming up rest on either side of the pirate’s handsome face. It was a kiss to stop time, a kiss no one had ever expected. It was love, between a pirate and a fairy.

James pulled away with a content smile, “My dearest Zarina, I believe I have.. fallen in love with you.” He took her hands in his own again, bringing them up to brush his lips over her fingers gingerly, “I want to move past my mistakes, and be with you. I can’t promise I’ll change, but I can promise there is room in my life for you. Can you ever truly forgive me?”

A sincere, dreamy smile spread over Zarina’s lips and she leaned close to let their foreheads touch lightly, “I already have.”


End file.
